Just a Little Trouble
by rookiegirl
Summary: The new tenant in Pete's apartment leaves quite an impression on him after their first encounter.


Chameleon

Just a Little Trouble

Disclaimer: This story is fictional and was written for my own entertainment, and the entertainment of other Adam-12 fan fiction readers. These characters are not my characters, except for the one that was created in my own mind; I think you can pick that character out for yourself.

"I can't believe that I am actually in Los Angeles," thought Jillian as she maneuvered her car into the space next to the baby blue ragtop in the parking lot behind the apartment building that she was moving into.

After breaking off a relationship that she had stayed in for way too long, she was ready for a fresh start, and L.A. seemed to offer her just that. Or, so she hoped, anyway. At least she didn't have to worry about finding a place to live. Her best friends' great-aunt, Mrs. Adeline O'Brien, had been overjoyed at the prospect of renting to the friend of her great-niece. When they spoke on the phone, Mrs. O'Brien had told her that it would be almost like having her great-niece there for a visit. She sounded like a very nice lady and Jillian was anxious to meet her.

Checking her watch, Jillian saw that it was only three o'clock. Mrs. O'Brien had told her that she wouldn't be back from her bridge club until 4:30, so Jillian leaned back against the seat and shut her eyes against the late afternoon sun. It felt good to finally be at her destination after three days of driving across country, only stopping for restroom and food breaks or a few hours of much needed rest every so often. Every muscle in her body ached, she was tired and her head was beginning to pound out a tune that she hadn't thought of since her days in the high school marching band. Speaking of high school, she wondered how the last seven years could have gone by so quickly. Her mind was wandering now, and with the warmth of the sun on her face, she could feel herself beginning to drift off.

Off duty police officer Pete Malloy had just come out of the back door of his apartment building and was heading toward his vehicle when he noticed a young woman sitting in the car parked next to his. Shielding his eyes against the bright sunlight, he walked over the car to check on her, instantly slipping into police mode. She was either dozing or unconscious and he was about to find out which.

"Miss, are you alright?" He asked as he bent down and peered into the open window on the driver's side, realizing a moment too late that he had made a rookie mistake.

Jillian simultaneously awoke with a jerk, let out a surprised yelp and swung out a wicked left backhand, catching the unsuspecting Pete Malloy high across the left cheekbone, just under the eye, causing him to stumble backward and land ungracefully on his backside, stunning both himself and Jillian. That was only the first wave of the unintentional attack.

"Oh my gosh, I am so very sorry! Are you okay? I didn't mean to do that but I dozed off for a second and then you startled me and swinging is such a natural reflex and… oh no, your bleeding!" Just as Pete was leaning forward to so he could stand up, Jillian flung open the car door, solidly connecting the door against his forehead, once again leaving him sprawled ungracefully on his backside. Exiting the vehicle as fast, and this time as carefully, as she could, Jillian knelt down next to the injured man and began to apologize profusely.

Though still slightly stunned and feeling a bit off balance, Pete could feel the blood streaming down his cheek and the goose-egg beginning to form on his forehead. He used his left hand to reach for his handkerchief and placed it over the cut, while at the same time using his right hand to gingerly touch the growing bump on his forehead.

He knew that by the way that his cheek felt like it was on fire that he was probably going to need a couple of stitches; he also knew that he wouldn't be able to drive himself to the hospital because he could already feel his eye swelling shut. He was going to have one humdinger of a shiner when it was all said and done, not to mention the headache that was already promising to be a real screamer.

"I'm fine, it's just a small cut." he said and as they both stood up. It didn't take Pete any time at all to realize that he had just been taken out by someone about a foot shorter than himself. The girl standing next to him couldn't have been more than five foot tall and didn't weigh much more than 115 pounds. From the looks of her, she was barely old enough to be out of high school. If he hadn't been so pre-occupied with tending to the open gash on under his eye, he would've found the situation slightly amusing to say the least.

"Oooh! I think you're going to need stitches, there's a lot of blood soaking through that handkerchief." Reaching out towards Petes' arm, Jillian said "Let me take you to the hospital." Pete couldn't help but flinch and take a step back, thinking that he had already suffered enough at the hands of this little brute.

"Uh… no, that's okay. You've done enough already. Besides, you were sleeping in your car, you look exhausted, and, I'm not so sure that I want to go anywhere with anyone that has the audacity to assault a police officer in broad daylight." Having seen the mortified look on Jillians' face, as she processed the last bit of information, was enough to earn an amused smirk from Pete.

Jillian quickly recovered her bearings, and, catching Petes' amused smirk, she managed to retort "Fine, but I can't see you driving yourself with only one eye open; at least not in this late afternoon traffic."

Jillian touched her finger on her chin, as if pondering her next move and said, "I guess I could stitch you up. I have some needle and thread in the trunk. It won't be the prettiest stitch job, but at least you won't bleed to death" and with that she turned on her heel and started toward the trunk of her car, hiding the amusement on her face as she caught the look of horror on Petes' face. "Uh-huh," she thought, "two can play that game!"

Wondering what kind of little spitfire he had just met up with Pete quickly ticked off his options in his mind. He knew that he couldn't drive a stick shift with one eye swollen shut and one hand holding onto a makeshift bandage. Jim and Jean were out of town visiting Jeans' parents for the weekend. His landlady, Mrs. O'Brien, was probably at her weekly bridge game, and, even if she weren't, he still wouldn't ask her because she would probably drop him off at the hospital and then run home and make up a batch of chicken soup for him. He could call a taxi, but in L.A. taxicabs aren't known for their swift response time and the way his cheek was bleeding he really didn't think he should wait too long before going to the emergency room. No, he really didn't see any other feasible option, short of calling an ambulance or calling the station for transport in a black and white. He knew he would never hear the end of it if he opted for either of those two options so he decided to choose what he hoped was the least humiliating option of all.

Pete let out a big sigh and said "Alright, let's go. It's just a couple of miles from here, I think…no, I hope…that I'll be safe enough with you for such a short distance." Jillian could hear the sarcasm dripping off of the sentence, but given the fact that she was a major contributor to his less than charming mood, she decided to bite her tongue and settled for a muttered "jerk", as she got into the drivers seat and started the car.

"By the way, I'm Pete Malloy. Do you have a name or do you just go around anonymously assaulting people?" he asked as he was getting into the passenger seat.

Frowning slightly at the man beside her she said "I'm Jillian; Jillian Martinez. I really am very sorry about what happened, Mr. Malloy." Smiling slightly, Jillian then added, "I hope you won't hold that first impression against me. I'm new in town, and I certainly don't need a bad reputation right off the bat. I'd like to settle in for a spell before that happens."

Pete returned her smile as best as he could and said "It's nice to meet you and don't worry, I won't hold that first impression against you, as long as you drop the Mr. and just call me Pete."

"Oh, okay, Mr.…. uhm, I mean, Pete."

"Good, now that we have settled that, tell me, where did you learn such a wicked backhand?" asked Pete as he removed the handkerchief and was inspecting the laceration in the side mirror of the car. It was still bleeding pretty well, though it had slowed down just a bit.

"I play a lot of tennis. Backhand hits are one of my specialties. Now, tell me how to get to the hospital before you lose so much blood that you need a transfusion."

The drive to Central Receiving was uneventful and the time passed quickly as Jillian filled Pete in on how she came to light in Los Angeles.

She told him that she just wanted and needed a fresh start after parting ways with her boyfriend. He wanted was pushing for marriage, and she just wasn't ready to put that kind of commitment into the relationship.

They had only been seeing each other for about six months and he was very possessive and demanding of her time. His demanding attitude had sent up a whole bevy of red flags in her mind and she told him that she needed some space to figure out how she felt about him and their relationship. That was a month ago and since then, he had constantly been phoning her and driving by her apartment. Jillian had started to feel really uncomfortable and even a little threatened when he began showing up at her job just as she was leaving each day. He would follow her home and then circle the blocks several times each evening. She had talked to the police, but since he hadn't actually made any attempt to detain her or harm her in any physical way, they said that there was nothing that they could do. Jillian knew at that point that she had to get out of town for awhile.

Guessing that Jillian's' quick overview hadn't even begun to touch the tip of the iceberg, Pete quickly decided that this was definitely something that he wanted to hear more about. After all, what if this crazed ex-boyfriend decided to follow her out here to California? She really did seem like a nice young woman, and he would hate to see anything happen to her, especially if he could do something to help prevent it. He made a mental note to himself to pursue the rest of the story later, maybe over dinner, or while he helped her carry in her belongings.

Two hours later, sporting six stitches and holding an extra large ice pack over both the wound and the goose-egg, Pete walked out of the examining room and found Jillian in the waiting area, cat-napping her way through an outdated magazine. He had to chuckle to himself when he thought about how harmless she looked right now, and again he couldn't help think about how young she looked.

His only dilemma now was trying to figure out how far out of her reach he should be when he woke her up this time around. Standing a good two feet in front of her, he stretched out his leg and gently nudged her shoe with his foot. The movement had its' desired effect and soon Jillian was yawning and stretching herself back into the land of the living. At least this time she didn't strike out like a well-poised rattlesnake going in for the kill. For that, Pete was thankful. One trip in to see the doctor was still one trip too many!

"Hey sleepy head. Did you have a nice nap? You look a bit more refreshed than you looked earlier today." Jillian noticed that the sarcasm was back in his voice, but chalked it up to the fact that he was probably in a bit of pain. She figured he hadn't exactly planned to take a trip to the hospital, or to need stitches.

"Yeah? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you like you've been on the losing end of a non-winnable battle." Jillian deadpanned right back at him, causing him to let a laugh that reached all the way to the one greenish gray eye that she could see. She had to admit, he had nice eyes, well the one she could see anyway, a nice smile, and a good hearty laugh. There was certainly something very likeable about this man and if she were in the market for romance, she could easily have pursued this guy. "Oh well, I may as well push those thoughts aside," she thought, "I didn't come out here to get involved with anyone, I came out here to start over fresh. By myself!"

Pulling herself out of her quiet musings, she asked, "Do you need to go to the drugstore for painkillers or an antibiotic, or anything?"

"Not today. They gave me enough samples of both to last a couple of days."

Pete wasn't quite sure why, but he suddenly found himself asking "What do you say we pick up something for dinner and head back to the apartment building? It's almost seven o'clock and Mrs. O'Brien should be back from her bridge game by now. You can pick up the key to your apartment and we can unload your car before it gets too dark and then have dinner."

As if on cue, Jillians' stomach let out a growl that would have frightened a grizzly bear, causing Pete to stop dead in his tracks and look at her with a look of total disbelief on his face and ask "just a little bit hungry, huh?"

With the color slowing rising to her cheeks, and thinking to herself about how embarrassing that was, she quickly replied "Uhm, yeah dinner sounds good. I don't suppose you know of a good pizza joint?"

"Of course I do! I'm a bachelor, it's in my nature to know the town venue." Once again that smile lit up his face and Jillian found herself really beginning to feel comfortable around this guy as she shook her head and chuckled.

They stopped at a pay phone and Pete ordered a large pizza with everything but anchovies from a pizza parlor about two blocks from the apartment. They had a half-hour to kill before their pizza was ready for pickup so they drove around and Pete pointed out some of the local history.

Back at the apartments, just as they arrived at Petes' door, Mrs. O'Brien was coming out of the vacant apartment across the hall, the one that Jillian would be occupying for the duration of her stay in L.A. She took one look at Petes' face and immediately went into her mother hen mode. What happened? How'd it happen? Does it hurt very badly? Would he like some homemade chicken soup? Pete could barely keep from laughing out loud as he assured his landlady that he was fine. She was such a nice lady and such a worrywart when it came to Pete. He had really lucked out when he had rented his apartment from her.

Pete introduced the two women and then Mrs. O'Brien led Jillian back into the apartment for a quick tour while Pete went to his apartment to set the pizza down and pull out some plates, forks and napkins. He had gotten a quick glimpse into Jillian's apartment and could see that none of her belongings had yet arrived. He assumed that they were coming via a moving truck that was still somewhere between Maine and California. "I guess we'll just eat over here and watch some television. I wonder if she likes baseball?" wondered Pete.

Once the apartment tour was over, Mrs. O'Brien and Jillian walked back to Petes' place. He had left the door open so that they could just walk in. Mrs. O'Brien declined the offer to stay for pizza, as she had already eaten with her friends from the bridge club.

As Mrs. O'Brien was leaving, she said "Pete, you never did say what happened to you."

Rather sheepishly, he replied "Oh, nothing serious" and glancing quickly at Jillian, he said, "I just met up with a little trouble this afternoon."

This earned him a look of "aren't you just a clever smart aleck" from Jillian.

"Oh, I see. Well you kids enjoy your pizza. Jillian, I will talk to you more tomorrow. Good night, now." said Mrs. O'Brien as Pete walked her to the door.

"Sweet woman" said Jillian. I really like her. She reminds me of my favorite aunt."

"Yeah, she has that effect on almost everyone in this building. She has a real soft spot for us single people, though. You mark my words, you will be on her 'chicken soup' list by the end of your first week here; that is, if you aren't already!" laughed Pete.

Jillian had to chuckle at that herself.

A fast friendship was forming between the two new neighbors as they sat on the sofa, eating pizza and watching the Dodgers. Pete had to smile to himself when he replayed their first meeting over in his mind. He had a feeling that having Jillian for a neighbor was going to be anything but boring.

He had absolutely no clue as to how right he was going to be about that. No clue, whatsoever.

The End

Okay, this is my first attempt at fan-fiction. I was pretty much going for a light, humorous story line that could possibly evolve into another story at a later date. I do not have any previous writing experience; I welcome any and all comments and reviews, but please, be gentle.


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